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Kevin Hartnett

Kevin Hartnett

Contributing Writer

Twitter

Latest Articles

A dartboard with pi at its center.
number theory

New Proof Settles How to Approximate Numbers Like Pi

By Kevin Hartnett
August 14, 2019
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The ancient Greeks wondered when “irrational” numbers can be approximated by fractions. By proving the longstanding Duffin-Schaeffer conjecture, two mathematicians have provided a complete answer.

Abstractions blog

Quantum Supremacy Is Coming: Here’s What You Should Know

By Kevin Hartnett
July 18, 2019
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Researchers are getting close to building a quantum computer that can perform tasks a classical computer can’t. Here’s what the milestone will mean.

Abstractions blog

How Randomness Can Make Math Easier

By Kevin Hartnett
July 9, 2019
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Randomness would seem to make a mathematical statement harder to prove. In fact, it often does the opposite.

geometry

Random Surfaces Hide an Intricate Order

By Kevin Hartnett
July 2, 2019
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Mathematicians have proved that a random process applied to a random surface will yield consistent patterns.

Photo of a silver metal plate with chips mounted on its surface.
Abstractions blog

A New Law to Describe Quantum Computing’s Rise?

By Kevin Hartnett
June 18, 2019
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Neven’s law states that quantum computers are improving at a “doubly exponential” rate. If it holds, quantum supremacy is around the corner.

Q&A

A Mathematician Whose Only Constant Is Change

By Kevin Hartnett
June 13, 2019
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Amie Wilkinson searches for exotic examples of the mathematical structures that describe change.

Art for "Computer Scientists Expand the Frontier of Verifiable Knowledge"
quantum information theory

Computer Scientists Expand the Frontier of Verifiable Knowledge

By Kevin Hartnett
May 23, 2019
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The universe of problems that a computer can check has grown. The researchers’ secret ingredient? Quantum entanglement.

Art for "Universal Pattern Explains Why Materials Conduct"
mathematical physics

Universal Pattern Explains Why Materials Conduct

By Kevin Hartnett
May 6, 2019
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Mathematicians have found that materials conduct electricity when electrons follow a universal mathematical pattern.

Art for "A New Approach to Multiplication Opens the Door to Better Quantum Computers"
Abstractions blog

A New Approach to Multiplication Opens the Door to Better Quantum Computers

By Kevin Hartnett
April 24, 2019
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Quantum computers can’t selectively forget information. A new algorithm for multiplication shows a way around that problem.


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